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Superteams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams
Not yet published
Expected 2 Jun 26The ultimate playbook for building high-performing teams, packed with practical, eye-opening insights from the most comprehensive study of elite groups ever conducted.
What do the best teams do differently?
To find out, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman launched a landmark study surveying thousands of teams, pinpointing the habits that separate the best from the rest.
In Superteams, he shares their secrets, and explains why the old blueprint is broken. The best teams do more than rally around a goal or build camaraderie. In a world of endless meetings and 24/7 work, what truly sets high-performing groups apart is their relentless commitment to three critical focus, teamwork, and growth.
In this timely book, you’ll learn the exact practices the world’s top teams use to achieve extraordinary results—without the burnout—including a collaboration strategy that enables guilt-free, focused work during regular work hours; a communication method that leads to fewer meetings and smarter decisions; and a treasure trove of surprisingly simple tactics for unlocking your team’s full potential.
Blending eye-opening discoveries with unforgettable stories, Superteams takes you inside the writers’ room of Succession and Bridgerton, the recording studio of ABBA and Fleetwood Mac, the kitchens of fine dining restaurants, the laboratories of Nobel Prize–winning scientists, the locker rooms of NBA and NFL teams, the chambers of Supreme Court justices, the boardrooms of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies, and the White House Situation Room.
Throughout the journey, you’ll discover a wealth of counterintuitive findings,
-Why feeling like the smartest person in the room is a sign you’re on a weak team
-Why top performers worry less about disappointing their boss than their peers
-Why where you work doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you work
-How an obsession with personal productivity actually undermines teamwork
-The only office amenity that reliably improves team performance ( it’s not coffee)
If you want to lead or join a high-performing team, forget the old playbook—it’s obsolete. What you need is a data-backed roadmap that details a smarter way to work. By applying the lessons in this book, anyone can turn their group into a superteam.
What do the best teams do differently?
To find out, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman launched a landmark study surveying thousands of teams, pinpointing the habits that separate the best from the rest.
In Superteams, he shares their secrets, and explains why the old blueprint is broken. The best teams do more than rally around a goal or build camaraderie. In a world of endless meetings and 24/7 work, what truly sets high-performing groups apart is their relentless commitment to three critical focus, teamwork, and growth.
In this timely book, you’ll learn the exact practices the world’s top teams use to achieve extraordinary results—without the burnout—including a collaboration strategy that enables guilt-free, focused work during regular work hours; a communication method that leads to fewer meetings and smarter decisions; and a treasure trove of surprisingly simple tactics for unlocking your team’s full potential.
Blending eye-opening discoveries with unforgettable stories, Superteams takes you inside the writers’ room of Succession and Bridgerton, the recording studio of ABBA and Fleetwood Mac, the kitchens of fine dining restaurants, the laboratories of Nobel Prize–winning scientists, the locker rooms of NBA and NFL teams, the chambers of Supreme Court justices, the boardrooms of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies, and the White House Situation Room.
Throughout the journey, you’ll discover a wealth of counterintuitive findings,
-Why feeling like the smartest person in the room is a sign you’re on a weak team
-Why top performers worry less about disappointing their boss than their peers
-Why where you work doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you work
-How an obsession with personal productivity actually undermines teamwork
-The only office amenity that reliably improves team performance ( it’s not coffee)
If you want to lead or join a high-performing team, forget the old playbook—it’s obsolete. What you need is a data-backed roadmap that details a smarter way to work. By applying the lessons in this book, anyone can turn their group into a superteam.
352 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 2, 2026
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Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
In today's workplace, teams represent the instrument of enacting change. Yet anyone who's served on a team realizes that team dynamics are key to maintaining a healthy atmosphere to make those contributions. Many books suggest ways to improve teams, but relatively few of them are based on critical studies to discern if their ideas actually work.
Ron Friedman's book, in contrast, begins as a study. He identifies top-performing teams in terms of output and nicknames them "superteams." Then he compares them with other teams that don't reach that level. He asks them the same questions in the survey about what social traits make their team tick. This book analyzes the results of this evidence-based investigation.
Many of the results are not entirely surprising in my experience, but they do surprise at points. Overall, superteams get more work done that betters each other. They find meaningful work that improve the group over time. Extrinsic rewards are not the key to team performance but rather intrinsic responsibility to each other. The superteams work for each other as much as they work for the manager.
To keep from being a mere academic analysis, Friedman investigates these traits with stories from many industries to illustrate his insights. Guns and Roses, writers of top TV show, Watson and Crick in research, and basketball teams all contribute inspirational success stories filling these pages. The combination makes for an eminently readable book.
The biggest takeaway for me is the courage to speak the truth with each other. It's easy to worry about offending people's sensibilities too much instead of creating a high-trust environment where honesty reigns. Trust enables teams to work together without fearing little missteps. That trust is garnered by a common purpose and a common direction towards a common meaningful purpose.
Overall, I love the evidence-based approach this book offers. It sifts through the many hypotheses in the literature to identify the key insights that actually work. I wish more books would take this studied approach. If you're looking for a book on teamwork filled with ideas tested to work, Friedman's Superteams is for you.
Ron Friedman's book, in contrast, begins as a study. He identifies top-performing teams in terms of output and nicknames them "superteams." Then he compares them with other teams that don't reach that level. He asks them the same questions in the survey about what social traits make their team tick. This book analyzes the results of this evidence-based investigation.
Many of the results are not entirely surprising in my experience, but they do surprise at points. Overall, superteams get more work done that betters each other. They find meaningful work that improve the group over time. Extrinsic rewards are not the key to team performance but rather intrinsic responsibility to each other. The superteams work for each other as much as they work for the manager.
To keep from being a mere academic analysis, Friedman investigates these traits with stories from many industries to illustrate his insights. Guns and Roses, writers of top TV show, Watson and Crick in research, and basketball teams all contribute inspirational success stories filling these pages. The combination makes for an eminently readable book.
The biggest takeaway for me is the courage to speak the truth with each other. It's easy to worry about offending people's sensibilities too much instead of creating a high-trust environment where honesty reigns. Trust enables teams to work together without fearing little missteps. That trust is garnered by a common purpose and a common direction towards a common meaningful purpose.
Overall, I love the evidence-based approach this book offers. It sifts through the many hypotheses in the literature to identify the key insights that actually work. I wish more books would take this studied approach. If you're looking for a book on teamwork filled with ideas tested to work, Friedman's Superteams is for you.
Displaying 1 of 1 review